In an interview posted Tuesday on GQ's website, GOP presidential hopeful, retired pediatric neurosurgeon and Baltimore-native Ben Carson defended Baltimore police from public outcry following the unexplained death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray.
"Obviously I'm sad to see what's going on there," he said. "I recognize that people are angry because they feel that they're not getting a full explanation of what occurred under suspicious circumstances, but I can speak from experience that reacting out of anger seldom leads to anything helpful. And these kinds of reactions will only increase the antagonism between police and communities throughout the country and result in more militarization and more aggression. These are not helpful things."
GQ's Jason Zengerle then asked Carson if the unrest in Baltimore was "indicative of a larger problem."
"In no way am I saying that all the police are righteous, by no stretch of the imagination," Carson responded. "We need to get to the bottom of any problems of discrimination. But the larger issue here is, how do you react when something is wrong? If you have an unpleasant experience with a plumber, do you go out and declare a war on all plumbers? Or teachers or doctors? Of course not. And it makes no sense to do that with police either."
I'd say it's not quite the same since a plumber's screw up isn't going to result in your death. And there isn't an epidemic of plumbers screwing up only for black people across the country. But whatever.
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